Ross Deer Population: Township Considering Feeding Ban

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA - With an overpopulation of deer increasingly becoming a problem, the township is considering banning feeding of the animals.

Township commissioners on Monday introduced an ordinance that would prohibit feeding deer within the township but did not vote on the proposed measure. Several procedural steps would have to be taken for the ordinance to become law, so any ban likely wouldn’t come for a few months.

Suburban communities such as Ross often provide an excellent habitat for deer to live and breed, according to deerfriendly.com. In fact, a suburban habitat can support more deer than a forest.

A feeding ban is often the first step communities take to reduce deer population before moving to more controversial deer culls. Before resorting to lethal deer culls, deerfriendly.com said more humane population control methods can include more fencing, deer resistant landscaping and repellents.

Other non-lethal deer population control methods include sterilization and relocation.

An out-of-control deer population is becoming an increasing health issue in Pennsylvania, which has the most instances of Lyme disease cases in the nation. About a third of all Lyme disease cases reported in the U.S. come from Pennsylvania.

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and is often transmitted through the bite of an infected blacklegged tick, also known as a deer tick, according to the state Department of Health.

Symptoms include fever, fatigue, headache, muscle aches, joint pain, a bull’s eye rash may appear, and other symptoms that can be mistaken for viral infections, such as influenza or infectious mononucleosis.

Photo via Shutterstock.

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